


old world

by Pomfry



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Business Trip, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Minor Character Death, Pining, Pink Lantern, Role Reversal, Star Sapphire Corps, Vigilantism, and I mean that term loosely, oh so much pining, that causes something much more drastic than one would expect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 16:05:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15004436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pomfry/pseuds/Pomfry
Summary: In a world where Gotham doesn't give up after the Waynes die, where Coastal City is more of a beacon for trouble, where Bruce Wayne picks up a pink ring and Hal Jordan puts up his fists, things go - differently.





	old world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i COMPLETELY blame my discord friends for encouraging this madness. I hope youre happy.
> 
> Idk how long these chapters are gonna be but this is just the prologue so.

In one world, Bruce Wayne went on a trip around the world learning how to fight and came back to Gotham as Batman. In one world, Hal Jordan became a Green Lantern and was known as the man without fear.   
  
In one world, a lot of things happened.   
  
This is not that world.   
  
In this world, Hal Jordan decided to take up arms against the overwhelming corruption in his city. In this world, Bruce Wayne was chosen by a pink ring after completing his training because he had so much love to give.   
  
In this world, so many things are different.   
  
And maybe for the better.

 

\--

 

When Bruce Wayne was young, his parents died. They were shot in an alley - a dirty one, a place where they should never have been - and Bruce had been the only one to witness it. Pearls had scattered across the ground, the clinks of it echoing in Bruce’s ears, and he’d fallen to his knees, the rain above him hiding his tears but not his sobs, not his screams. It doesn’t do anything to hide those.

There are two possible outcomes from this.

In one world, Gotham City crumbles without the Waynes. It falls to pieces, collapses underneath the weight of its inhabitants’ grief, and it never recovers. It one world, the ones who were rejected in the world came to Gotham, their hands greedily searching for power, for money. In one world, a man with green hair and a wide grin comes to town. In one world, Bruce Wayne never gets over that helplessness he’d felt, that  _ anger. _ He never forgets it.

In one world, Coastal City remains as clean as it can get with an underground accompanying it. It stays strong, the police do their jobs, and Hal Jordan lives in a city that is safe.

This - is not that world. Perhaps it’s for the best it isn’t. Because in this world, Gotham got to its feet. It soldiers on, the will of hundreds of people inside it, and it never lets them go.

You see, people from Gotham have an indomitable will, one that can’t be replicated. It’s how they were able to survive in the first place before the Waynes took over. Bruce Wayne has it in spades.

Coastal City - doesn’t. Its will is weak, the determination weaker. When corruptions storms, it can’t hold its ground. It falls to its knees, lays on its back and lets the criminals walk over it. It succumbed to the darkness, attracted the insane like flies to a corpse. It gave in and let the insane inside like a disease that it never tried to get out, to treat.

The police were bribed, the water dyed red. Children were scared and yet - nobody did anything. Nobody gave them more than a cursory glance.

That’s the difference between the two cities. This is the point of divergence, of variance.

In this world, Gotham fortified its defenses and didn’t let the Wayne’s work got to waste. In this world, Bruce Wayne learned how to fight and went to college for business and detective work. In this world, Bruce Wayne becomes head of his company at the tender age of twenty and directs his city to a brighter future.

In this world, Hal Jordan grows up in a city where blood drips down the walls, a body in front of the spray, and nobody blinks an eye. In this world, Hal Jordan grows up watching his back, a knife in his pocket and a viciousness in his eyes suited for those in Coastal City. He grows up wary, ready to bite the hand that feeds him, and so is everyone else. There are men skulking around the school and when little Tommy disappears one day they all know where he went. There’s women asking them for money, men threatening them with guns. There are screams in the night and begging for mercy in the streets and everyone learns to roll over and ignore it. There are stains on the stairs and terror in their guts and it’s all Hal Jordan has ever known.

In this world, Hal’s brother dies in a mugging and everyone shrugs and says, “Well that’s a shame, he was a nice kid,” and moves on. Hal can’t. His brother was the one person who always looked out for him, the only person he could count on to watch his back. His brother was - he was  _ everything _ to Hal.

And unlike the Bruce Wayne of this world, who got justice for his parents and got to see their killer locked away in jail for the rest of his days, Hal Jordan did not. They never found out who killed his brother, never found out who pulled that knife.

Hal has nightmares of blood on knives and his brother’s laughter ringing in his ears that week, and he will for years to come.

And - he’s  _ furious. _ Why didn’t anyone try to catch them, he wonders at night as shouts echo. Why didn’t anyone  _ try? _ Why doesn’t anyone  _ help? _

The next day at school, his friends don’t mention his brother. Don’t say a word because Elly got taken by the men at the corner for asking. And Hal gets it. He did the same before it was  _ his brother _ who got killed.

But Hal Jordan is full of fury, of rage and fire and everything that keeps him going, and he thinks that he’s going to be the one who keeps kids from disappearing.

That’s another change.

So, you see, it only takes a few differences to change things. It takes a city not letting deaths get to them and a boy slowly getting over his grief. It takes a city tucking its tail between its legs and a boy getting angry and holding onto that anger. It takes a man finding a ring and another finding a reason to keep living. It takes a man keeping a city safe and the other protecting his planet. It takes a man building friendships and the other fighting. It takes two men being put in the reversed situation and letting them loose, watching them grow.

Could you tell the difference between the two worlds?

Guess there wasn’t as much of a difference.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always loved and brighten up my day and are saved in my Gmail.
> 
> Also! Here's my [Tumblr.](http://nikescaret.tumblr.com) Come visit and chat with me if you want!


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